Young Vic theatre

Staging dozens of productions a year, from Chekhov's Uncle Vanya to (currently) Annie Get Your Gun with Jane Horrocks, London's Young Vic is an energy-hungry operation. "Lighting is number one for us," says Damian Ball, the facilities manager. "When we're 'teching' for a show, the lights are on morning, noon and night. So we'll be looking at turning them down wherever possible." Air-conditioning is another big drain: 450 people in the main auditorium take a lot of cooling.

Ball has been talking to the (recently redeveloped) building's architects, Haworth Tompkins, about how the theatre's 70-80 staff can use it more efficiently. "We're basically bringing the architects back on site and asking how we can use the building better." It has already got many eco touches, notably the two sedum "green" roofs that help insulate it while providing a habitat for wild flowers and (temporarily, for Annie Get Your Gun) several chickens.

Transport is not a big issue – most visitors walk or use public transport – but the waste and emissions from productions are. "Creating sets uses a lot of energy, so we want to reuse and adapt more materials," Ball says.

The theatre already uses Freecycle to pass on old props and sets to members of the public for reuse, but general manager Frederica Notley is still hopeful of achieving its 10:10 goal next year: "The team here are the most enthusiastic I've ever met on green issues." However, she rules out using their artistic programme to bang the carbon-cutting drum, preferring to inspire by example. Don't expect to see An Inconvenient Truth: The Musical staged here any time soon.

Microsoft UK

"We see ourselves as having a role to play in changing the world. And you don't get a much bigger issue than saving the planet." That's how Darren Strange, head of environmental sustainability at Microsoft UK, sums up the company's decision to sign up to 10:10. It already has a target to reduce its emissions by 30% by 2012 compared with 2008, but now reckons it will have cut 15% by June next year. By the same point, it plans to have reduced company travel by 10%.

The big-ticket items on Microsoft's carbon bill, as well as travel, are the energy used by its buildings and servers. It is redesigning new buildings so they use recycled water, more natural light and more efficient air conditioning, among other things. The company has also reduced paper use – for example, by only allowing people to print a document if they are standing next to the printer. Microsoft UK's new data centres consume half as much power as they did three years ago. The latest one, in Dublin, uses natural air flow rather than fans to cool it. The company has also cut business travel "massively", says Strange, by using more video-conferencing to conduct meetings, and is mobilising its 2,800 employees to sign up to 10:10 on an individual basis.

Sarah Waters

Getting up in the morning, then moving from bedroom to study to sit at your desk all day does not exactly warm you up in winter. So during her long hours writing at home, author Sarah Waters needs to crank up the heating pretty high. This is the first thing she is tackling to meet her 10:10 commitments.

"I'm hoping to turn off radiators more," she says. "I can be a lot more careful about heating just one or two rooms, and the odd hot water bottle wouldn't go amiss as well. But I am slightly worried I'll discover I've got to make quite serious changes to my lifestyle, as we all have. That's alarming."

Waters' central London home is listed, so she cannot fit double-glazing, but she plans to get her draughty sash windows, which rattle when the wind gets up, insulated and upgraded. She also intends to reduce her car use for work by taking trains to readings and events – although she does at least drive a fuel-efficient Smart car.

Air travel, though, will be harder to renounce. In Europe she will try and take trains, but next year there is an unavoidable long-haul flight to Australia and New Zealand to promote her novel, The Little Stranger. "For a writer these days, air travel has become part of your job."

O2

The Telecoms giant O2 has already reduced its UK carbon footprint by around 47,000 tonnes in the past three years. "The low-hanging fruit is very easy to sequester," says Gareth Rice, the company's head of environment. "As you go further up the tree, it gets harder."

Most of the company's emissions (85%) are a product of its network of mobile phone masts, but the rest is produced by its offices and shops. It has been working with Jonathan Porritt and Forum for the Future to try to find ways to make savings.

O2's new office building in Slough, for example, generates some of its own electricity from solar panels on the roof, and has "intelligent" lighting and air-conditioning. The company is also trialling a wind turbine at one of its retail stores.

Most significant, though, is the company's £1.8m investment in smart meters, allowing it to view changes in energy demand in nearly real time. During 2010, the company aims to achieve at least a 3% reduction in its emissions (the minimum businesses must achieve to join 10:10) or 5,940 tonnes of CO2. But it hopes to get close to 10%, or 19,800 tonnes.

Rockingham race track

The team at the Rockingham Speedway motor racing track. Photograph: David Sillitoe

"People must think we are barking mad to try and do it," says Cat Lund, head of operations at Rockingham, an FIA international-standard race circuit in Northamptonshire. Rockingham is a carbon reduction nightmare: it hosts British touring car, F3 and club racing, as well as track days for petrolheads to roar around on high-performance bikes and cars. But Lund is deadly serious about its 10:10 commitment. Shocked to discover the business alone – excluding the racing – produces 868 tonnes of carbon emissions each year, she and her staff of 20 set about reducing them. Last year Rockingham's office went carbon-neutral, saving 123 tonnes of CO2. They mothballed little-used offices, turned off lights, started a full recycling programme and curbed the use of office printers. "The next 10% for us is going to be tricky," Lund admits. "We're talking to Honda about putting solar panels on our grandstand, and we want to get wind power up here. But the elephant in the room for us is the cars."

Rockingham does, however, host the Shell Eco-marathon and is now pushing to host electric car and bike races. These, with its economical-driving training courses – will raise awareness of the need for greater fuel efficiency in motor sport.

Oliver Letwin MP

As the Conservative party's head of policy and the man responsible for writing the Tory manifesto for the upcoming general election, Letwin potentially holds the key to cutting the the entire UK's carbon emissions. But closer to home, he has already been making some big strides.

It's been a while since the former shadow environment secretary last measured his carbon footprint – but, he says, any old figure would be incorrect anyway. "Since it was last done, I've moved to a hybrid car, replaced all bulbs with low-energy ones, started offsetting all air travel and walking to work."

Letwin has long argued that climate change is such a significant issue, the political parties might do well to work together on it. His number-one target for 2010 is to get better home insulation and install a new boiler at home.

And his biggest worry? "How to get solar photovoltaics in the building."

Whitby community college

For technology teacher Mark Parkin, it's all about renewables: "Wor king with the Co-op, we've already had some solar panels installed, so we've made the first step into renewable energy. Now we're seeking funding to increase the amount of solar panels."

If Parkin gets his way, by the end of 2010 Whitby community college will be an eco-beacon, powered entirely by renewable energy, with the school mini-buses running on biodiesel and the canteen stocked with produce grown in a school garden.

"We also have engineering students who may work on building the school a wind turbine. I'd love to see all of that happen," says Parkin, who has made a personal commitment to reduce his personal carbon emissions by forgoing flying: "I won't be flying at all next year. In fact, I may not fly again," he says.

Bafta

Bafta's headquarters are in line for a green refurbishment. Photograph: Adam Butler: AP Adam Butler/AP

Next year could be the first time a green carpet gets rolled out for the star-studded Bafta awards ceremony. For Bafta, the charity that promotes British TV, film and video games, 2010 will see a major effort across all its departments to cut its carbon footprint by 10%. "We're already pretty environmentally friendly about recycling and waste," says Helen Kirwan, head of facilities, "but we've never looked at greenhouse gas emissions before, so this will be about measuring as well as reducing energy use."

The focus for Kirwan will be Bafta's HQ on Piccadilly in London, a busy building with everything from offices and meeting rooms to a cinema and bar. But the charity will also be examining how green its award ceremonies are, from the efficiency of the venues to how guests travel to get there.

Kirwan also plans to use the charity's newsletter to inspire Bafta's glitzy 6,500 members with its 10:10 plans.

Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust

The trust signed up to 10:10 for both moral and pragmatic reasons. "It is important for us to take responsibility for our carbon impact," says sustainability manager Alexandra Hammond. "But this is also going to save us a huge amount of money. It already is. We can put that money back into patient care."

The biggest measure the trust has put in place – two new combined heat-and-power units, costing £10m – was in the works before 10:10 got off the ground last month, so the trust has decided to adopt an ambitious target: it wants to hack a fifth off its carbon emissions in 2010. The new CHP units will cut 11,300 tonnes of CO2 – equivalent to around a week's power output from the city of Newcastle. They will save more than £1.5m in energy costs each year.

Hammond has also recruited 112 "energy representatives" among the trust's nearly 10,000 staff to help reduce energy wastage in their part of the organisation – for example, by fixing drafty windows, turning off computers at night and fixing dripping taps.

Manchester city council

With a staff of 25,000 and 1,000 buildings, the challenge facing Manchester city council is substantial. But the 10:10 campaign is a perfect fit with its preparations for a radical, 10-year climate change action plan for Manchester which it will announce next month.

The council will seek to slash its emissions by 2-5% through demolishing, closing or refitting energy-hungry buildings in its vast building portfolio. This, stresses Cowell, will be done in consultation with local people, with the emphasis on reusing buildings if possible. Refitting its town hall complex will help meet its second target of a 2%-3% emissions cut through saving on gas heating and a 2%-4% cut in its electricity bill.

The council staff now has 800 volunteer "green champions" encouraging colleagues to cut their energy use in the office. "We want to be the UK's greenest city," says Cowell. "Manchester as a council is really up for this agenda."

Last month an ambitious environmental campaign was launched, asking individuals and organisations to cut their emissions by 10% in 2010. Here Kevin McCloud introduces a special supplement on its progress so far